5:47 PM — Westlife singer Mark Feehily announced his engagement last week on Twitter. The star and his boyfriend Kevin McDaid got engaged on their fifth anniversary. They have not revealed a date for their civil partnership.

3:17 PM — A heterosexual couple are seeking allies to help them mount a legal challenge against the UK's ban on gay marriage. Tom Freeman and Katherine Doyle need two more straight couples and three gay couples to join their case.

1:11 PM — Colin Firth has suggested that there are "invisible boundaries" preventing out gay actors from taking leading roles. Firth, a straight actor who played a gay man in Tom Ford's directorial debut A Single Man, said he felt "complicit" in the problem of gay actors losing out on parts.

12:37 PM — The National Health Service is paying for people to have therapy to turn them straight, it has been claimed. According to an investigation by the Independent, some GPs are referring people to 'reparative' therapists to help them change their sexual orientation.

11:23 AM — A pair of lesbian royal albatrosses in New Zealand have welcomed their first chick into the world. The couple, who live at Royal Albatross Colony on South Island, are not unique, but it is particularly unusual for lesbian albatrosses to successfully incubate an egg.

1st February 2010

6:37 PM — Pope Benedict XVI criticised the Equality Bill on Monday for violating "natural law". He was thought to be referring to provisions in the bill which would have forced churches to employ gay staff. These were defeated by the House of Lords last week.

6:10 PM — A drink is hurled – or was it an id badge? A speaker quits the stage in tears (but returns in time for the final round-up). Recriminations follow Julie Bindel's appearance at Queer Question Time.

4:02 PM — The National Secular Society has announced a " large-scale campaign" to protest against Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Britain in September. The pontiff has attacked gay rights on a number of occasions.

3:45 PM — A trans woman has spoken of her humiliation at being wrongly told it was illegal for her to use the female toilet in her local pub. Katrina Harte, 46, began her transition several years ago and is awaiting her final surgery.

1:29 PM — Back to Black singer Amy Winehouse is bisexual and has had relationships with women, her friends have claimed. She is said to have told close friends: "There is something about being with a woman that is very satisfying. I don't care what people think about me being bi - I do what feels good."

12:50 PM — Hawaii's House has shelved a bill which would have allowed gay couples the right to have civil unions. Although the Senate approved the bill last week, the House voted on Friday to indefinitely postpone it.

12:06 PM — US president Barack Obama will treat repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell as a priority this year, it has been reported. According to the New York Times, the White House has been holding meetings on the issue for the past year with defence secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

6:09 PM — Mayor of London Boris Johnson has given his support to a film designed to stamp out homophobic bullying. FIT, the film directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair and produced by gay charity Stonewall, is to be sent to all schools in Britain next month.

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